Crossing Paths
by DJ OMiY
Summary: Video game characters are being pulled into a great adventure. Only problem is...two teenagers from the real world have been pulled in, too! Hilarity and action are sure to ensue!
1. The Calling of the Souls

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything copyrighted in this story.**_

---CROSSING PATHS---

-The Calling of the Souls-

Sora looked around, and blasted another three heartless with his keyblade. "Dang!" He yelled. "Do these things ever end?"

"Just keep going, Sora!" A white duck yelled. Donald was shooting Firaga at a few other heartless.

"A-hyuck, relax, Donald," Goofy called over. "We can do this if we just work together." He threw his shield at a nobody and ran back to Donald. "Say Donald, what's that weird light over there?"

"Donald! Goofy! Look ou-" Sora started to shout, but was cut off as the whole world fell out from under him.

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A swipe of the cane, and a priceless vase was on his back. "Bentley, where are we with the security systems?"

"Almost there, Sly," A nasal voice answered.

"Hey, what's this button do?"

SLAP

"Don't touch anything, Murray!"

"Sorry, Bentley,"

Sly smiled and shook his head. Suddenly, he saw movement off to his right.

"Freeze, Cooper!" A fox in a police uniform and a shock pistol ran towards him.

"Ah," Sly began, beginning to run. "Inspector Fox, looking as good and attractive as ever." He noticed a white light over to his left. _Maybe it's police lights_, he thought.

"Cut the flirty chit-chat and fr-" Carmelita Fox never got far enough to finish her threat, and her world disappeared.

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A girl of 19 walked slowly toward a beast that was snarling at her. "Gunner!" She yelled. She suddenly changed outfits and got two pistols. She quickly disposed of the beast.

"Y, within sight range of the sphere. All clear," She whispered into a small microphone. She walked over to the sphere and picked it up. Two more girls of about the same age ran up to her.

"All right, Yunnie!" The blonde-haired one cheered.

The one with brownish-black hair and a said, "Are you a sphere hunter or a cheerleader?"

"Calm down you two," Yuna said. "Paine, I'll need you to keep us covered." Then she turned to the blonde. "Rikku, contact Brother and tell him to bring the ship here." Yuna pushed a strand a brown hair out of her face. Being the leader was fun, but it was also tough on a girl.

"Hey, Yunnie," Rikku called. "What's that white light over there?"

Paine looked over, and never had a chance to scream before the world was gone from under her.

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Emi began dancing. Sure, she was in a skirt, but only her friends were there, so she didn't care. As the last chords of Sexy Planet died away, Emi stepped off the machine and let Rage, her boyfriend, on.

"Don't take too long, Rage," Emi said. "We have a lot to do tonight, including the whole 'first date' thing."

Rage smiled, knowing they could both spend all night on this machine. "If you want to spend the whole 'first date' thing here, I'm fine with that!" He teased.

"Sure thing," Emi laughed. She saw a white light over by the door. "Hey, Rage, look at that!"

Rage looked, and suddenly, he couldn't feel the metal pad below him, and fell.

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His green tunic flapped in the wind. He gave Epona another carrot and zipped along. Link looked up again at the moon. It was a mere few miles away from the earth. Translation: Not good. "C'mon, faster Epona!"

He jumped off after another few minutes and pulled out an ocarina. He played a light tune. "I have to get to Clock Town!" The Song of Soaring took him directly there.

He saw a white light coming from the clock tower. "What is that?" It was the last thing he saw before the world vanished.

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He jumped onto another block and entered the castle. He dodged the giant monster and kicked the axe. The monster fell into a giant pit of lava.

"Mario!" A girl yelled. Princess Peach yelled from her prison in the next room. Mario jumped in and released her.

"Here you a-go, Princess," Mario said. "Now we can all get-a out of here."

"Good idea,"

They walked out and escaped back to Princess Peach's castle.

"Mario!" A green-clad man called.

"Luigi!" Mario called back.

Luigi noticed a strange white light behind the approaching duo. "Hey-a, Mario! Look out!"

It was the last thing they heard.

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Jim Raynor glanced over his shoulder and fired his machine gun a few times to dispose of some Zerg. He glanced over at his squad. "Keep it up, troops!" he yelled. "We're winning!" He looked in the other direction.

"Marshall Raynor!" A marine yelled. "We are approaching the Overmind!"

"Good work, soldier!" Raynor called back. This war was taking far too long for him. He met up with his partner, Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan.

"This Overmind is sending out strong signals too all of the Zerg," Kerrigan said to Raynor as he approached. She dispatched a few zerglings with her rifle, and continued. "We have to take large measures to defeat it."

"Say, Sarah," Raynor began. "Do the Zerg have a new weapon?"

"No, why?"

"What's that light then?"

The two fell as the world around them disintegrated.

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Sharon was into her game, StarCraft. She called over to her brother, Corey, who was stealing stuff with Sly Cooper on the PS2. "Hey, Corey," she started. "I need some help over here!"

"What's up, sis?" he said as he walked over. Sharon and Corey Savannah both loved video games. Sharon normally played the computer while Corey played the consoles, but both could do either.

Corey was 15 and had brown hair and a medium build. He was a master strategist, but loved to make decisions on the spot as well.

Sharon was 13, but made up for her age in smarts. Her blonde ponytail and schoolgirl appearance contrasted her puzzle-solver attitude. She also loved music, and was often playing DDR or beatmania. She told Corey that her reinforcements were being depleted, but she didn't have the minerals to restore them.

"Simple," Corey answered. "Try sending a few probes over to those unused mineral deposits and that geyser. Make a whole new base there."

"Thanks, Corey."

"If you don't mind, Sharon," Corey began. "Can you help me with this puzzle on Sly? I can't finish the opera-singing level!"

Sharon chuckled. "That's because you have no rhythm!" She walked over and took the controller. "Watch." She began tapping her foot, and pressed the buttons in perfect rhythm. "See? All you need is rhythm!"

"Thanks, Sharon."

"No problem, Corey."

She went back to her StarCraft game. All she needed to do was get a few probes over there. What was that weird white light in the middle of the screen?

"Hey, Corey, what's that?"

Corey walked over.

"I don't know. What do you thi-"

The world disappeared.

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(What do you think? A bit repetitive, but it at least lets you know who exactly is in this fanfic. What has happened to our characters? Find out soon! Review!)


	2. We're All In This Together

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything copyrighted in this story.**_

---CROSSING PATHS---

-We're All In This Together-

As the white light cleared, Corey looked around. "Sharon?" He called. "SHARON!"

"I'm right here!" Sharon said. She picked herself up off the ground, and walked over to him. "Where are we?"

The sky was a mix of purple and green. The floor had a strange red, blue, and orange grid pattern. Lightning bolts occasionally struck the ground. They were apparently on a large plain, since the ground seemed to stretch on forever.

"How do we get out of here?" Corey asked Sharon.

Sharon examined their options. They could explore, but she didn't know where they would get food or water. They could wait, but the same problems arose from that as well. It looked pretty bleak.

"Hey, you two!" A voice shouted. The two looked around. Who said that? "Yes, you two! Freeze!" The two kids turned around. A fox clad in a police uniform pointed a pistol at them. "Who are you, and what are you doing here?"

Sharon was too shocked to speak, and Corey couldn't find anything to say. They just stood there with open mouths and a very confused face. They knew that fox! It was Carmelita!

Suddenly, a raccoon blazed by both of them, and stood behind them. "Evening, Inspector," he said.

"Sly Cooper!" The fox yelled, ignoring Sharon and Corey. "Get over here now!"

Suddenly, Sharon couldn't take it any longer. "HOLD IT!" she screamed. "What the heck is going on? I know both of you, but you shouldn't exist!" She stopped, taking a few deep breaths. Carmelita and Sly both stopped.

"What?" they said together.

Corey took over. "You two are video game characters," he said simply, although he looked pretty panicked.

Before Carmelita or Sly could say anything, gunfire shattered the air. Everyone ducked, and Sharon screamed. They saw a man and a woman in some sort of futuristic outfits.

One of them called to the group, "Surrender or fight!" The woman fired a warning shot into the air.

"Surrender, SURRENDER!" Carmelita shouted. "Just don't shoot!" She hated these kinds of situations.

The two futuristic people walked over, with their guns at the ready. The four stayed in their positions as the two examined them.

"Don't worry, Jim," The woman said. "These four don't look like any kind of threat."

"As long as they're not Zerg, Sarah," the man said. They both put their guns in an 'at ease' position.

Corey gasped. This was getting all too weird. He gulped, and then said, "Sarah Kerrigan and Jim Raynor?"

Both suddenly had their guns out again at Corey's head. "How do you know who we are?" Sarah said sharply.

"You're in a video game," was all he said.

Sarah and Jim reeled back. "What?" Jim yelled. "Impossible!"

Suddenly, they could hear a scream.

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Two men and a woman fell from the sky. The man in red fell with a loud, "OOOOOOAAAAAAAPH!" The man in green fell right on top of him. The woman, who was dressed in pink, fell on top of both of them.

"Oh, hello," The woman said, apparently unhurt by using the human cushions. "I am her majesty Princess Deanne Peach, and you are…?"

Sharon fainted on the spot.

"Oh dear god!" Corey yelled. "Then they must be…"

"Mario!"

"And Luigi!"

"At your service!"

Corey almost fainted along with Sharon. The other characters looked on in amazement as a boy about Corey's Age in a green tunic walked up.

"Do any of you know where Termina is? I appear to be a bit lost. I'm Link."

"Oh geez…" Corey said. He woke Sharon up, and they were just in time for the next arrival.

"Corey, look!" Sharon yelled. She pointed to a boy, a duck, and a dog. "It's Sora, Donald, and Goofy!"

Hearing their names, they walked over.

"Who are you?" Sora asked. "And how does she know my name?"

"Long story," Jim said, starting to catch on. "Probably one you don't want to hear."

Donald looked over Sora's shoulder. "Hey, who do you think you're looking at, buster!" he shouted to Carmelita. A quick shot with the shock pistol, and Donald was careful not to say anything again.

Luigi turned around, and screamed. "WHAAAA!"

Everyone looked in that direction.

"I don't believe it!" Sora said. "It's the three from Hollow Bastion."

Three girls waved to Sora from about 50 feet away.

They began running towards them.

"Who are they?" Link asked.

"Sharon!" Corey said. "It's Yuna, Rikku, and Paine!"

They looked at the rapidly approaching girls.

"Sora!" Yuna yelled. "What's going on?" The three girls met with the rest of the group. They looked at the strange assortment of characters. "Who are all of these people?"

Corey was about to answer when two MORE people appeared next to the group. The girl appeared to be unconscious, but the man was awake.

"Who are you and where are we?"

Sharon's eyes widened. She had played DDR enough to know that these people were…"Rage and Emi!" she yelled suddenly. Everyone but Corey was surprised. Rage was definitely shocked, and just shook his head.

"Well," Corey started. "I think everyone is here. The lightning bolts have stopped."

"Ok then," Sharon said. "That means we have…

Corey

Sharon

Sly Cooper

Carmelita

Jim Raynor

Sarah Kerrigan

Mario

Luigi

Princess Peach

Link

Sora

Donald Duck

Goofy

Yuna

Rikku

Paine

Rage

Emi

And except for us, they are all video game characters!"

Unfortunately, she said that just loud enough for everyone else to hear. Gasps all around, and a near-collapse for Rikku.

"Well, we've got to work together," Corey sighed. "Everyone has an equal status and everyone has an equal say. I have no clue why we are here, but it is screwed up!"

Everyone nodded in agreement. Corey suddenly spilled some change. He and Sharon bent down to pick it up. Without warning, a voice rang out.

"Welcome to the game, ladies and gentlemen."

Everyone looked around for the speaker. Sharon and Corey stayed down.

"Oh, you won't find me. So don't try. You are all now subjects to the game. A game made of your games. The sixteen of you will be divided, and then you will finish my adventure. If you succeed, you will be returned to your games. If not, you might not want to know."

Sharon and Corey's eyes widened in fear.

"You will get clues to a certain game. Then, you must use a device called, the Controllerpath, which I will give to each team. If you complete all of the challenges, I will release all of you. I give you everything you need to survive, but you must use it."

After that the voice stopped speaking. Two Controllerpaths appeared on the ground a few feet away.

"Everybody hold it," Corey commanded. "The man said 'the 16 of you.'"

"Right, Corey!" Sharon continued. "Whoever set you guys up made a mistake: he brought us in by accident and doesn't know it!"

Rage spoke up. "We still have several problems. One, Emi is out cold, and has no intentions of waking up soon. Two, we don't know anything about the other worlds unless we came from that world. Three, how the heck are we going to figure out those clues?"

Sharon flashed a smile. "That's exactly why the mistake he made was such a bad one. We know about all of your video games and can easily solve his puzzles!"

Corey then ordered everyone. "We'll make two teams with me on one and Sharon on the other. They will be…

**Team One**

Corey

Sly Cooper

Carmelita

Mario

Luigi

Princess Peach

Jim Raynor

Sarah Kerrigan

Rage

Team Two 

Sharon

Yuna

Rikku

Paine

Link

Sora

Donald

Goofy

Emi

That's how we'll divide the teams," Corey finished.

"Ok then," Link said. "We have to start now. Who knows how long this could take?"

"Just remember," Yuna said.

"We're all in this together!" Luigi finished.

"That's not what I was going to say, but it's good!" Yuna laughed.

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It's LONG, I know, but the challenge shall begin! Next chapter, at least…Keep reviewing. You're feedback changes the story!


	3. The Poetry of the Foot

_**A/N: This is a very long chapter that deals with music. Suggestions-----go to and download "groove2001" and "la señorita virtual." Then go to and search the simfile database for "xepher" and "max. (period)." Download them. Listen to them when the song is mentioned in the story.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything copyrighted in this story.**_

---CROSSING PATHS---

-The Poetry of the Foot-

_-----Dance First. Think later. It's the natural order. (Samuel Beckett)-----_

Corey picked up one of the Controllerpaths. "Ok," he said, looking over the device. "This is how we will get from world to world."

The Controllerpath was shaped like a PSP but twice its size. It had a joystick on the left and four buttons, X, Circle, Square, and Triangle, on the right. The center had a screen. The first clue was beamed into it.

_**On a sexy planet far away**_

_**You must closely listen**_

_**Where the notes are here to stay**_

_**Absolute they glisten**_

_**.59, 321 Stars, and rstuV,**_

You have to MAX out your soul 

_**And come and groove with me.**_

"This doesn't take Sharon to figure it out!" Corey smiled triumphantly. As the characters watched, he moved the joystick until the words "Dance Dance Revolution" appeared on the screen.

He pushed X.

The world swirled around Team 1 as the world dropped out from under them as it did to bring them to the plain.

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Princess Peach screamed. "LOOK AT ME!" Everyone turned to her. Mario's eyes went as round as moons. Luigi whistled. Corey's hand went to his mouth. Peach was wearing a pink tube top, white clogs, and a yellow mini-skirt. Peach had _NEVER_ shown so much skin. "What would Toadsworth think!" she cried in despair.

"Get used to it," growled Sarah. She was dressed in a red halter-top, tight-fitting blue jeans, and orange high-heels.

Rage looked at himself. His hair was shorter, and he had a cap on. His vest was gone to show an orange jacket and a white shirt underneath. Jeans and hiking boots finished his outfit. Even though this was his game, he looked different.

Corey was wearing a green t-shirt and walking shorts along with his regular sneakers.

Jim was in a sleeveless white shirt and cargo pants. He also had combat boots.

Mario and Luigi were both wearing sweatshirts and baseball caps in their respective colors. Two pairs of jeans and Converses finished their outfits. "He-a must change our-a outfits to a-match the game." Mario offered.

Sly (who had a brown shirt, jeans shorts, and blue Vans) looked over at Carmelita (who was wearing a purple spaghetti-strap top, purple platform shoes, and Daisy Dukes). "What are you thinking about, Montoya?" Carmelita whirled around.

"Supernova."

"Pardon?"

"I don't know," Carmelita said. "It just popped into my head."

Corey looked over. "Hang on a minute. Did you say 'Supernova?'"

Carmelita nodded.

"Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA!" He shouted. "Of course!" Corey went over the facts in his mind. Sharon had been surfing the web about DDR SuperNOVA for a month now. From her ranting about it, he knew a lot of details by heart. The platform they were standing on was green, and they were surrounded on all sides by a red grid. It looked a lot like the Select Screen. "That's why you look different Rage," Corey said. "You get that look in DDR SuperNOVA."

Corey had set the Controllerpath down, but now, Sarah had picked it up. "Hmmmm…" she said in wonderment. "I wonder what this does." She pushed X. The Controllerpath sprung to life. No one noticed.

"Select your Style!" Sarah turned down the volume, and then hid the device behind her back as Rage, Sly, Peach and Jim looked over. After a bit, they looked away. She wanted to keep this to herself.

"Single player!"

"Select difficulty!" 'What is DDR really?' She wondered. She didn't really know how to play.

"Light Mode!"

"Select Music!"

A screen came up with a list of songs. She began toggling the joystick to move through the list. There were a LOT of songs. "Hmmm…this one looks good," she said quietly, as she moved to 'groove2001.'

"1st Stage!"

Everyone was suddenly on a DDR pad. Everyone looked at Sarah, who was holding the Controllerpath with a very dumb look on her face. "Oh god…" was all she could say.

_Can all that bootie be all yours? GROOVE!_

Those lyrics jolted everyone back into focus. Everyone had arrows projected in front of them. "Play the game!" Corey called. "When the arrows reach the top, step on the corresponding arrow!"

Everyone had the hang of it, since it was Light difficulty, and Rage was freestyling like there was no tomorrow.

After the song ended, Sly used his thief skills to quickly snatch the Controllerpath away from Sarah. "What on earth where you THINKING!" he yelled.

She smiled meekly and murmured, "I was just fooling around." Everyone sighed. If this kept up, they would never finish the challenges. Carmelita looked at the Controllerpath, and decided to try something.

"Select Music!"

"Everyone get ready," she warned. "I'm selecting another song." She pushed the toggle to one side and stopped. "Ok, the song is La Señorita Virtual." She pushed X.

"2nd Stage!"

Again, everyone went to a DDR pad. This time, the steps were faster and more intense. Jim tripped and missed a few, while Mario and Luigi bumped into one another.

"It's-a no good!" Luigi yelled. "I can't keep up!" After a few more steps, he fell down and he failed the song.

He disappeared. "LUIGI!" Everyone yelled. As the song ended, they looked over to see a cage dangling over the edge of the platform. Inside was Luigi.

"Help! Get-a me out of here!"

Peach didn't know what to do. Mario was Luigi's brother, and Mario and her were engaged! If she didn't do something, Mario would hate her for the rest of his life.

"Select Music!"

Rage was dumbfounded. Nothing like this had ever happened before. He picked up the Controllerpath and began toggling through songs. What happened next astonished him even more. Peach blazed by him.

"I'M COMING, LUIGI!" Peach screamed. She was going to see if she could force open the cage somehow. Unfortunately, she stumbled, and a chunk of the platform flew out from under her feet and pressed X on the Controllerpath.

"Final Stage!"

Before Peach could get to Luigi, everyone was zapped to another pad. Rage looked down at the song he had picked by accident. It was Xepher.

"Rage!" Corey called. "What song did it pick?"

"Xepher!"

Corey tensed himself, as did the remaining members of Team 1. The organ music blared as steps floated towards the top. Then Corey noticed something that no one else had. _Rage had accidentally bumped the difficulty up to HEAVY!_ The steps intensified, and Sarah dropped out quickly. She appeared in the cage by Luigi. Soon, Peach, Jim, and Mario dropped out, too. And Sly and Carmelita simply could not complete the streams. That left only Rage and Corey. Corey was on the verge of failing.

"C'mon!" he urged. "C'MON!" He was on the last string, he could make it!"

_BOO!_

He had missed the last step.

He had not made it.

He had failed.

He was surrounded by light, as he felt lurched off the ground. Then he fell onto the other people. He was inside the cage with the rest of Team 1.

"God dangit," Corey muttered. Everyone looked very forlorn, until Carmelita realized a very important fact.

"Where is Rage?"

Corey's eyes lit up and he looked out onto the platform. Rage was still standing there with the Controllerpath. "I won't let you down!" he yelled. Everyone watched as he began walking toward them. It had been the final round, and he should be able to release them.

Suddenly, he stopped.

Words flashed through the sky.

_Try Extra Stage!_

Rage gulped. He had gotten a AA on Xepher. Now he would have to play one more round before the end. He looked at the area where the arrows would normally be projected.

It instead showed the Controllerpath screen. Rage was about to push X when a creaking sound caught his attention. He turned in horror to see the cage's chain creaking under the weight of the eight people it was supporting. If he failed…he would certainly tip the scales, cause the chain to break, and send them all to their deaths.

He pushed X. He had pushed "_RANDOM_."

The screen disappeared, but no arrows appeared. Then he realized because Extra Stage always had Dark on, which hid the step zone from view.

With horror he realized the background of the song. It showed a DDR mat rugged from use. In the middle, it simply said, "**Why do you need…?**"

Corey's blood ran cold. He knew that song. It was a phrase Sharon often used. He whispered, "Why do you need Konami original songs?" Several characters looked at him in confusion.

"Pardon?"

"Excuse me?"

"What did you say?"

"Huh?"

Corey felt a tear run down his cheek. There was no way that Rage would pass. Not when it was MAX. (Period.)

The step began to fly and Rage began to dance.

He did well through the first part, and had a chance to recover when the song slowed to 180 bpm. PARANOiA chords could be heard, as a tribute to the song. But Rage was worried, he didn't know when the song sped up again.

"RAGE! NOW!"

Rage danced with extreme earnest, and began getting all perfects. Then the song turned to it's blistering 600 bpm section. Rage glowed as the dance bar filled to max. He caught every arrow.

He jumped. An explosion.

"_Thank you for playing…(cheers)_"

Rage had passed with a full combo and a AAA.

Sly closed his eyes and felt himself being tugged off of the ground. He landed by Rage, where everyone had as well.

"Rage, you did it!" Peach screamed and wrapped herself around him.

Corey took the Controllerpath and another clue was beamed into it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have completed our first challenge."

A/N: Ok, REALLY long chapter. On Microsoft Word it's six pages long. Anyways, review to see what game I should visit next. I will be using Team 2 in the next chapter. The next game they visit has to be one of the characters' games. It has to be from Team 2. It cannot be DDR again even though Emi is on Team 2 because she is knocked out remember? Ok, enough ranting. Oh, and if you send me a flame, it will be 1) severely laughed at. 2) ignored. 3) burnt. 4) all of the above. You pick.


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